URC Daily Devotion 31 March 2026

Reflection
I cannot ask you to meditate on these verses. This is the most repellent passage in the entire New Testament, and the amount of abuse and violence it has generated against the Jewish community down the centuries is beyond estimation. And it is sheer legend, without the slightest possibility of being true history. Why do I say that? Because the Pilate it presents us with is a figure totally unlike the actual historical Pilate, who was contemptuous of the Jews and was only too happy to condemn Jewish rebels to death without mercy – no washing his hands of their deaths for him. And as a rebel is how the real Pilate saw Jesus. There was a placard over the Cross that said ‘King of the Jews’. That is the charge on which he was condemned, of course by Pilate, who was the only person with the authority to do so. 

So where does this story come from? After the great Jewish revolt in 66 to 70 CE, the infant Christian community was desperate to distance itself from the Jewish nation, and take the blame for the death of Jesus away from the Romans, even if that meant saddling the Jews with it. But more important than where it came from is where it went to. Again and again throughout history, the charge was hurled against the Jews that they were responsible for the death of Jesus, that they – ‘the people as a whole’ – had cursed themselves, calling down the guilt of his death upon themselves and all their descendants. This was the justification, especially in the Middle Ages, for the horrific massacres they had to endure. Even if no one nowadays takes it seriously, the memory is enough for any criticism of Israel or Jews to be characterised as a case of ‘the blood libel’.
 
Prayer
Merciful God, 
forgive your Church,
for the hatred and vilification of other communities 
we have been guilty of down the generations. 
Especially the contempt and hatred of your people Israel. 
We stand ashamed at the terrible consequences this has led to. 
Grant us your Spirit of love, peace, and reconciliation. 
Lead us to approach our Jewish neighbours 
in that Spirit, that you may be glorified by all your children. 
Amen